According to WMC Media Watch: the Gender Gap in Coverage of Reproductive Issues, men penned 52 percent of bylines discussing issues of reproductive health care - including contraception and abortion - compared to just 37 percent by women. Moreover, the report, which examined 1,385 news stories published by the twelve highest-circulating media outlets, also found quotes from men outnumber those from women, accounting for 41 percent from men versus a mere 33 percent by women. Men are also more likely to include interviews with other men in their coverage of reproductive heath topics as well as frame them as "political issues" rather than matters of "health," as favored by women.

"Since women play a greater role in reproduction, it would make sense for women to be the majority of the sources and authorities in its coverage," said WMC co-founder Gloria Steinem in response to the study's findings.

Unfortunately, women's underrepresentation in media has persisted across subject matter. Last year, WMC found women authored only 37 percent of print news stories, with men dominating coverage in almost all areas including US politics (65 percent), world politics (64 percent), science (63 percent), and technology (62 percent). WMC's most recent findings, however, were released at a time of increasingly dangerous anti-abortion rhetoric and numerous ideologically-driven political maneuvers aimed at restricting women's access to contraception. The study highlights a critical gap in accurate reporting of one of the most urgent issues affecting women today: reproductive healthcare.

"The American public - and especially women - deserve accurate, informed and experienced media coverage on reproductive health, state and federal legislation, abortion and contraception," said Steinem. "This research is offered in the hope of increasing public information about reproductive justice - which means the right to have or not to have children - as a basic human right."

Emphasizing her party's commitment to maintaining Taiwan's independence from China, Tsai won over young voters eager to usher in a political changing of the guard following some 70 years of dominance by the pro-Chinese unification party, the Kuomintang (KMT), chaired by presidential opponent Eric Chu. In her victory speech, Tsai hailed a "new era" in Taiwan, vowing to cooperate with other political parties to resolve major issues and follow the will of the people regarding the sovereign nation's relationship with China. "I also want to emphasize that both sides of the Taiwanese Strait have a responsibility," said Tsai, "to find mutually acceptable means of interaction that are based on dignity and reciprocity."

"The results today tell me the people want to see a government that is willing to listen to people, that is more transparent and accountable," Tsai told reporters following her declaration of victory, "and a government that is more capable of leading us past our current challenges and taking care of those in need."

The grand jury, which-formed to investigate Planned Parenthood following the release of the videos, cleared Planned Parenthood of any wrongdoing, and instead decided to indict Daleiden and Merritt. Earlier this month, Planned Parenthood filed a federal lawsuit against CMP, its leaders, and employees - including Daleiden and Meritt - alleging violations of the Racketeer Influence and Corrupt Organization Act (RICO) and engaging in wire fraud, mail fraud, invasion of privacy, illegal secret recording and trespassing.

To date, federal and state-level investigations in 12 states have turned up zero evidence of wrongdoing on the part of Planned Parenthood, eight states have refused to investigate citing a lack of evidence of any wrongdoing, and CMP's fraudulent videos have been debunked repeatedly. Despite these many investigations, a Select Investigative Panel has been formed in the Energy and Commerce Committee of the House of Representatives to investigate "big abortion providers." The Panel has, so far, not been willing to investigate CMP leaders or other anti-abortion extremists.

With attacks on abortion providers rising, the Feminist Majority Foundation launched a campaign calling on the House Select Investigative Panel to redirect its focus to anti-abortion violence, intimidation, and harassment, or to disband.

"How can House members investigate abortion providers and ignore the activities of key CMP officials and other anti-abortion extremists, or the routine harassment, intimidation and threats against abortion providers?" asked Feminist Majority President Eleanor Smeal.

Targeted threats and intimidation of abortion providers has nearly doubled over four years. According to the Feminist Majority Foundation's 2014 National Clinic Violence Survey, the percentage of clinics impacted by targeted threats and intimidation increased from 26.6% of clinics in 2010 to 51.9% in 2014.

JANUARY 21, 2016 - On the eve of the 43rd anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Feminist Majority Foundation joins Congresswoman Donna F. Edwards (MD-04), abortion providers, clinic escorts, patients, and a coalition of women's groups to call on the House Select Investigative Panel to redirect its focus to anti-abortion clinic violence, harassment, and intimidation, or to disband.

Patients and providers across the country routinely experience harassment and intimidation. "There are anti-abortion extremists who frequent the area outside our clinic," explained North Carolina volunteer clinic escort Shana Broders. "They block the driveway and the street trying to prevent people from getting to the clinic. They confront patients who park their cars on the street and then follow them to and from the clinic. They stick their hands into people's cars to throw materials at them. They scream in people's faces. They use vile and threatening language. It's all meant to intimidate and shame patients from getting services or to harass providers and try to force the clinic to close."

"The House Select Investigative Panel must focus on the real threats to women's health - the constant harassment, intimidation, and threats that plague abortion providers and clinic staff who are trying to provide basic healthcare services to women," said Feminist Majority Foundation President Eleanor Smeal. "These tactics, used to scare and harass patients and providers contribute to a climate of violence. No law-abiding business - let alone a women's healthcare facility that provides essential services-should be forced to deal with this unacceptable treatment. When did the right to life become the right to terrorize?"

Targeted threats and intimidation of abortion providers has nearly doubled over four years. According to the Feminist Majority Foundation's 2014 National Clinic Violence Survey, the percentage of clinics impacted by targeted threats and intimidation has increased from 26.6% of clinics in 2010 to 51.9% in 2014. In the past, an increase in threat levels has preceded an increase in violence.

The Feminist Majority Foundation has been joined in this press conference by Congresswoman Donna Edwards (MD-04) and a coalition of organizations, including the National Organization for Women, Planned Parenthood Metro Washington, and In Our Own Voice: National Black Women's Reproductive Justice Agenda. For more information, see our campaign website.

Former Oklahoma City police officer Daniel Holtzclaw has been sentenced to 263 years in prison today for the rape and sexual assault of 13 Black women in 2013 and 2014. State prosecutors successfully requested that Holtzclaw serve his sentence consecutively, noting that each survivor deserved to have justice for the individual crimes committed against them.

In December, a jury found Holtzclaw guilty on 18 criminal charges, including five counts of first and second-degree rape, six counts of sexual battery, four counts of forcible oral sodomy, and three counts of procuring lewd exhibition. The jury recommended that Holtzclaw serve 263 years in prison. At today's sentencing hearing, three of Holtzclaw's victims delivered impact statements, including his youngest victim who was only 17 years old at the time of her assault. She told the court that since the assault, "my life has been upside down."

Jannie Ligons, the first woman to report Holtzclaw, told the court that her life had been changed forever after the assault, according to Tom George, a local TV reporter who live tweeted the hearing. In her fifties at the time of the attack, Ligons' complaint spurred an investigation that uncovered Holtzclaw's pattern of abusing his position of power to prey on Black women.

At least 13 women came forward during the investigation. Many of the women had not reported the assault for fear of reprisals or fear-later confirmed by the jury's failure to find Holtzclaw guilty on all 36 of the criminal charges brought against him-that they would not be believed. At a preliminary hearing in the case, the 17-year old survivor explained her reasoning, "Who are they going to believe?" she asked. "It's my word against his. He's a police officer."

Holtzclaw's attorney said he plans to appeal, according to Talking Points Memo. The judge previously denied Holtzclaw's request for a new trial or evidentiary hearing. He is to begin his sentence today.

"Justice was served today," said Gaylynn Burroughs, Feminist Majority Foundation Director of Policy and Research. "Today, there is some hope that the world will hear that Black women's lives matter. I applaud the courageous women who came forward to demand this justice, and the many Black women activists, especially in Oklahoma City, who took to the streets, filled the courtroom, and worked so tirelessly to bring attention to this case. Black women's bodies are too often the site of state-sponsored violence. Black women are too often ignored and marginalized, and our demand for justice ignored. Let this verdict and this sentencing serve as a catalyst for change.'

President Obama has declared a state of emergency in Flint, Michigan after a water contamination crisis produced a spike in lead poisoning and other health issues, including possibly Legionnaire's disease, in the city. The declaration allows the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to coordinate relief efforts and provide disaster aid, such as clean water, filters, and water test kits.

An estimated 9,000 children under six years old, in a city of only about 100,000 people, were exposed to lead after drinking poisoned water in Flint, and around 200 children are said to have "elevated blood lead levels." Lead poisoning in children can lead to low IQ and developmental problems, hearing loss, and learning difficulties, among other things. In adults, lead poisoning is linked to miscarriage or premature birth, low sperm count, pain, and decline in mental functioning.

Flint's problems began in April 2014 when Darnell Earley, an emergency manager appointed by Governor Rick Snyder, switched the city's water source from the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department to a local river in order to save money. Almost immediately, Flint's residents, who are predominately African-American, raised concerns about the water's smell, taste, and color. Snyder, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services repeatedly downplayed concerns about the water, despite being informed about abnormally high lead poisoning rates in Flint's children.

It was not until October of 2015-after a spate of studies showed an increase in lead levels in children-that Snyder announced that the city's water source would be transferred back to the Detroit system. Snyder did not declare a state of emergency until January 5, 2016, and even though Earley is no longer Flint's emergency manager, Snyder has appointed him to be the emergency manager of Detroit Public Schools-a school system plagued by underfunding and crumbling infrastructure.

Flint residents are now wondering what's next for them and their children. Michigan State University and Hurley Children's Hospital in Flint have planned to create programs that may help mitigate the effects of lead poisoning. Residents have also filed two class-action lawsuits against the city and state, and some are calling for Snyder's resignation and/or his arrest.

Even as the Flint water crisis makes national headlines, residents - 40 percent of whom live in poverty - are being billed for the poisoned water and are being threatened with shutoffs if they do not pay.

In a startling misappropriation of the Black Lives Matter movement, anti-reproductive rights politicians in Missouri started off the new year by introducing the so-called "All Lives Matter Act" - a bill designed to strengthen Missouri's already existing personhood law.

The "All Lives Matter Act," sponsored by Republican state Representative Mike Moon, is one of several anti-reproductive rights proposals that will be considered in the state's 2016 legislative session. The bill would amend state law to define a fertilized egg as "a person," and would require law enforcement officers and other state officials to "affirmatively enforce" fertilized eggs' right to "life, liberty, or property."

Moon's bill is intended to strengthen a law currently on the books in Missouri that gives "unborn children" a "protectable interest in life, health, and well-being." The existing law currently contains a provision that makes it subject to the U.S. Constitution, Roe v. Wade, and other decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court, but Moon's bill would remove this language. That Moon's bill is likely unconstitutional has not prevented it from attracting a smattering of co-sponsors.

The "All Lives Matter Act" is also the latest in a pernicious strategy by anti-reproductive rights politicians to use black bodies to promote policies that devalue black women, their lives, and autonomy. That this bill is being introduced in Missouri, the location of the 2014 Ferguson uprising, which served as a major catalyst for a national Black Lives Matter movement, has not gone without notice.

Christine Assefa, an organizer with the St. Louis, Missouri based Organization for Black Struggle, remarked that even though "revolutionary activism . . . overwhelmed the streets in St. Louis City and Ferguson [and] energized a transnational movement around the value of Black lives[,] . . . . it is evident that racial justice in not a priority for Jefferson City's GOP leaders." In a guest column for the Feminist Wire, Assefa also highlighted how the "All Lives Matter Act" is an unmitigated attack on black women:

"By hijacking the prolific chant that has become the title of a movement led by a new generation of human rights activists and recontextualizing it, Rep. Moon in further marginalizing Black women," Assefa explained. "By sponsoring this bill, Rep. Moon suggests that the state of Missouri codify into law the assertion that Black women are killing their own children, are incapable of making decisions about their own bodies, and cannot control their sexual desires. All of these characterizations perpetuate historical, violent, and harmful stereotypes of Black women that reveal the deeply-rooted relationship between race and sexual politics."

This perverted interest in, and misuse of, black women's reproduction is not new, but as RH Reality Check Senior Legal Analyst Imani Gandy has previously pointed out, the misappropriation of Black Lives Matter "is not only offensive, it's ultimately hollow." She continues, "When it comes to advocating for policies that would actually support Black women and help them raise healthy children, far too many anti-choice activists are silent."

A North Carolina law requiring abortion providers to submit an ultrasound to state officials for every abortion and induced miscarriage performed after the 16th week of pregnancy took effect on January 1.

The law, signed by Governor Pat McCrory in June, demands all doctors performing abortions after 16 weeks to send the State Department of Health and Human Services an ultrasound of the fetus proving the measurements used to determine the fetus' "probable gestational age." Louisiana and Oklahoma have similar ultrasound provisions.

Current North Carolina law bans abortion after 20-weeks of pregnancy except in cases of "medical emergencies." As part of the new requirements, doctors performing abortions after 20-weeks must also submit to the state whatever evidence was used to determine that the abortion qualified as a medical emergency. Essentially, the law forces women to share their private medical information with state officials.

Virginia Lieutenant Governor Ralph Northam announced a $9 million program proposal on Friday that would make free long-lasting birth control available to women who have little or no health insurance. Funding for the pilot program will be included in Governor Terry McAuliffe's next two-year budget plan.

The proposal would make intrauterine devices (IUDs) and skin implants available to eligible women at no cost through a federal grant. The program budget will also cover patient outreach, clinician training, and a study to assess the program's impact.

"Education and access to family planning services help women and families live healthy and prosperous lives in Virginia. When pregnancies are planned, it is easier for Virginians to achieve life goals like getting a college education or starting a business," said Northam during the announcement. "And when any business looks to come to Virginia, we want that business to know we are a welcoming and open place for women and families to live and work."

In his remarks, Northam, a pediatric neurosurgeon, cited a comparable program in Colorado that led to a 48 percent decrease in the teen birth rate between 2009 and 2013, and saved an estimated $79 million in Medicaid costs from 2010 through 2012. Despite Northam's optimism that the Virginia program could see similar results to Colorado, it is important to note that the privately-funded Colorado initiative was a five-year, $25 million grant. McAuliffe and Northam have yet to announce any further plans past the two-year budget proposal.

The program will now have to be approved by Virginia's Republican-controlled state legislature.

A prominent human rights lawyer in China was formally arrested and charged with state subversion on Wednesday. Wang Yu's arrest comes as Chinese state officials continue to crackdown on activists and lawyers engaging in rights defense work.

Yu, along with dozens of other lawyers and activists, have been held in secret detention for months, after they were accused of inciting and provoking illegal activism. The group has been denied access to their lawyers since July, when the Chinese government began to detain and question hundreds of human rights activists and lawyers.

"Beijing's hostility towards those who try to use the legal system as a check on state power has been on full display," said Sophie Richardson, China director at Human Rights Watch. "But efforts to silence such lawyers and activists only amplifies their demands for justice." Human Rights Watch has been calling for the release of the detained advocates which it calls "arbitrary." According to Human Rights Watch, between July and September 2015, Chinese authorities have detained some 300 human rights lawyers and activists throughout the country.

Yu is best known for defending free speech advocates and activists, including a member of the Feminist Five-the group that garnered international attention after they were detained for planning a campaign to combat sexual harassment.

The women will now join NASA's existing 49-strong elite corps of astronauts, contributing specialized skills acquired through advanced degrees in biology and engineering as well as extensive, branch-diverse military experience. They are all also eligible to compete for a seat aboard NASA's first manned mission to Mars projected to launch in some 15 years.

Making up four out of the eight astronauts selected for the program, the women of NASA's class of 2013 mark the first time in the program's 55-year history that men and women have been equally represented. They are also a part of NASA's smallest group to date despite the agency receiving the largest number of applications since 1978-a detail Janet Kavandi, NASA's director of flight crew operations at Johnson Space Center in Houston attributes to the need for qualified candidates with diverse backgrounds and "a broad spectrum of experiences."

While women may possess certain biological advantages and bring unique skills and strengths to space travel, according to Kavandi, the women were not chosen for their gender. "We never determine how many people of each gender we're going to take, but these were the most qualified people of the ones that we interviewed," Kavandi said following NASA's announcement of the 2013 class. "They earned every bit the right to be there."

"From space, you can't see borders," said McClain. "What you see is this lonely planet. Here we all are on it, so angry at one another. I wish more people could step back and see how small earth is, and how reliant we are on one another."

A San Francisco Superior Court judge declined to issue an emergency order that would prevent Mercy Medical Center, a Catholic hospital, from refusing a women's request for a tubal ligation. According to the hospital, the sterilization procedure violates Catholic doctrine.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the law firm, Covington & Burling LLP, filed a lawsuit against San Francisco's Dignity Health-a healthcare network of which Mercy Medical is a part-following the hospital's denial of patient Rebecca Chamorro's request for a tubal ligation.

Chamorro is scheduled to undergo a Cesarean section on January 28 at Mercy Medical. She decided, after consultation with her doctor, to get a tubal ligation after the surgery. The hospital, however, has refused the doctor's request to perform the surgery at Mercy Medical, citing a 2009 directive issued by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops calling the procedure "intrinsically immoral" and "evil."

"The refusal of hospitals to allow doctors to perform basic health procedures based solely on religious doctrine presents a real threat to a woman's ability to access health care," said Elizabeth Gill, senior staff attorney at the ACLU of Northern California. "Patients seeking medical care from public institutions should not have to worry that religious doctrine rather than medical judgment will dictate what care they receive."

According to the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, tubal ligation, or "tying the tubes", is one of the most popular methods of contraception and is employed by some 600,000 U.S. women every year. Safe and cost-effective, the procedure consists of the closing off of the woman's fallopian tubes and is typically administered immediately following a Cesarean section, when the woman is anesthetized and the abdomen still open.

Chamorro is the third woman to contact the ACLU regarding Mercy Medical's refusal to perform tubal ligation on religious grounds. Lynsie Brushett, whose baby is due March 26, was also refused the procedure. Last year, Rachel Miller was denied tubal ligation and ultimately filed suit in August 2015. Under legal pressure, Mercy Medical officials retreated from policy, reversing their decision and allowing Miller's procedure to proceed.

The ACLU plans to continue its legal efforts on behalf of Chamorro, despite the last week's decision by the San Francisco Superior Court judge. "It's not ideal. Our client could deliver any day," said Gill. "But there are still physicians who want to provide tubal ligations at Dignity Health hospitals and are being told they cannot do so."

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Monday in a case that threatens to upend nearly forty years of precedent and deal a major blow to public unions across the country.

The case, Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, brought by the conservative Center for Individual Rights (CIR), revolves around unions' fair share fees. Once a majority of workers vote to be represented by a public sector union, the union must represent all workers, even non-union members. Every worker, therefore, benefits from the union's collective bargaining. As a result, public sector unions are allowed to collect fair-share fees from non-union members in order to prevent "free riders" from receiving union benefits without contributing to the cost of providing those benefits. No one is forced to join the union, and no one is required to pay any other fees, such as fees used for political activities.

The Supreme Court held in Abood v. Detroit Board of Education, a 1977 decision, that it is constitutional for public sector unions to collect fair share fees from non-union members. CIR, however, argues that fair share fees violate the First Amendment and is asking the Court to overturn Abood - a move that some advocates say could reduce union membership and weaken the ability of unions to negotiate fair pay and safer workplaces.

"This case is about our students, our public schools and our country's economic future," said California Teachers Association President Eric C. Heins. "Providing a quality public education for every student starts with educators having the ability to come together and make decisions for their students, as well as negotiating fair wages that attract the brightest minds into our profession. Undermining the collective bargaining process undermines the middle class."

During oral arguments, the conservative majority of the Court seemed to be critical of the unions' argument. In 2014, the Court ruled in Harris v. Quinn that fair share fees could not be required of home care workers because they were not fully public employees. In that case, a 5-4 majority of the Court declined to overturn Abood.

In a statement, Heins called Friedrichs "an attempt to shift the balance away from workers and in the favor of corporate interests," said Heins. "That's apparent by the wealthy special interests funding the lawsuit. This case has nothing to do with what's good for students or working families."

"I am very honored to be named the next Commandant of the U.S. Corps of Cadets," Holland said in a statement. "It's a privilege to be part of the team that trains and develops leaders of character for our Army."

As commandant of cadets, Holland will be responsible for the development of cadets into Army officers. Holland was previously the first woman general of the U.S. Army Fort Drum & 10th Mountain Division.

When announcing Holland to the post, acting Army Secretary Eric K. Fanning said, "Diana's operational and command experiences will bring a new and diverse perspective to West Point's leadership team. She is absolutely the right person for this critical position."

"For decades, women's discriminatory and systematic exclusion from the military was being used to block the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment," says Eleanor Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority Foundation. "It was always a poor excuse, and now it's being exposed as such. At last, these barriers are tumbling down one by one."

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) has begun a series of raids this month aimed at deporting Central American families, sparking protest by activists throughout the country.

So far, ICE raids have been reported in California, Georgia, North Carolina and Texas. ICE has detained at least 121 undocumented immigrants since the raids started this month. The agency is focusing on families - mostly women and children - who currently have deportation orders.

According to Vox, since 2014, about 100,000 families have migrated from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador to the United States. Most of these families are seeking asylum, fleeing increased violence in their home countries. The ICE raids are targeting families who have been denied asylum, but who have not returned to their home countries, many because of continued fear.

Immigration advocates have strongly condemned the raids, and activists have protested in New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Florida, Oregon, California, and Washington, DC. A protest is planned for today in New York City.

J.J. Mulligan, an immigration lawyer for Atlas: DIY in New York explained the fear and confusion he has been hearing from concerned families since the raids started. In an interview with NPR, Mulligan said, "The government's showing up in the middle of the night at your home, pounding on the door. I mean, that's terrifying. These are people who have lived in the shadows. And that's like their biggest fear realized."

American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) President Victor Nieblas Pradis called the raids, "unconscionable and inherently wrong." He continued, "Rounding up mothers and children who have fled the most violent region in the western hemisphere and are trying to find refuge abrogates our legal obligations to provide protection to refugees. The Obama Administration should be ashamed of these actions and immediately suspend them."

Many immigration advocacy groups such as United We Dream, The Immigrant Defense Project and others have been working around the clock since New Year's Day to provide legal assistance to those who are being targeted by the raids.

On Wednesday, the House of Representatives voted 240-181 in favor of a measure to defund Planned Parenthood for one year and repeal key provisions in the Affordable Care Act. The bill will most certainly meet a presidential veto.

Wednesday's vote is the 11th time anti women's health politicians have tried to defund Planned Plarenthood during this Congress. It is also the furthest an anti-Affordable Care Act (ACA) bill has progressed since the law's 2010 implementation. To date, Republicans have attempted to repeal or undermine the ACA 62 times.

House Pro-Choice Caucus co-chairs, Congresswomen Louise Slaughter (D-NY) and Diana DeGette (D-CO) decried the vote. "Over the last several years, the Republican-led House has wasted far too much of the American people's time trying to undermine and undo access to the health care they rely on," said Reps. Slaughter and DeGette. "This is especially true for women, who have seen their constitutional right to make their own reproductive health choices attacked again and again." They continued, "We should be spending 2016 trying to improve health care options instead of tearing down the constitutional rights Americans have worked so hard to secure."

In December, lawmakers were able to push the anti-ACA, anti women's health bill through the Senate by using a legislative strategy called reconciliation, which allowed the bill to pass with a simple 52-vote majority. The House vote on Wednesday means that the bill will reach Obama's desk this week.

The bill is the latest in a series of attempts by anti-abortion lawmakers to strip federal funding of Planned Parenthood. In September, following last year's release of several deceptive videos by the anti-abortion group Center for Medical Progress (CMP) falsely claiming to depict the illegal sale of fetal tissue by Planned Parenthood, House Republicans called Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards to testify before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee regarding the organization's conduct and practices. Though the committee found no fault in Planned Parenthood's activities, just one month later, House Republicans assembled a select committee - this time under the jurisdiction of the Energy and Commerce Committee - to continue investigating the organization as well as other "big abortion providers." To date, federal and state-level investigations have turned up zero evidence of wrongdoing on the part of Planned Parenthood and the fraudulent videos have been debunked repeatedly.

The Feminist Majority Foundation launched a campaign calling on the House Select Investigative Panel to either stop investigating abortion providers and start investigating violence, intimidation, and threats directed at women's health clinics, or to disband. "How can House members investigate abortion providers and ignore the activities of key CMP official and Operation Rescue President Troy Newman, or the routine harassment and intimidation of abortion providers?" asked Smeal.

Targeted threats and intimidation of abortion providers has nearly doubled over four years, and the percentage of clinics impacted by targeted threats and intimidation has increased from 26.6% of clinics in 2010 to 51.9% in 2014.

An unprecedented group of medical experts, legislators, legal scholars, business leaders and reproductive justice advocates joined the Center for Reproductive Rights yesterday to announce the filing of 45 amicus briefs, urging the Supreme Court of the United States to overturn a Texas law that threatens to close more than 75% of abortion clinics in the state and deny millions of women access to safe, legal abortion. The Feminist Majority Foundation joined the National Women's Law Center's amicus brief along with 46 other women's rights organizations.

The Supreme Court agreed in November 2015 to hear the case challenging H.B. 2, Whole Woman's Health v. Cole, brought by the Center for Reproductive Rights. The Texas law, which requires abortion clinics to become ambulatory surgical centers and for physicians providing abortions to obtain local hospital admitting privileges, has already shuttered half of the abortion clinics in the state. Oral arguments in the case are scheduled for March 2.

Nancy Northrup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, stated, "Never before has such a diverse array of organizations and leaders from the fields of medicine, government, law, business and religion stepped forward to condemn abortion restrictions at the U.S. Supreme Court. These briefs present a thorough record of the undeniable damage Texas' sham law has and will continue to cause, and an indisputable legal argument for why it must be struck down. This deceptive law is an affront to science-based medicine, an insult to women's dignity, and reflects a total disregard for the rule of law and the rights of millions."

Democratic House Leader Nancy Pelosi joined with Senators Harry Reid and Patty Murray, along with 160 other members of Congress for a bicameral amicus brief stating, "The amicus brief filed by Members of Congress urges the Supreme Court to reject Texas politicians' appalling attempt to deny women their constitutional right to make their own reproductive health decisions.

"No wonder so many diverse groups are uniting. If upheld, this deceptive Texas law-aimed at closing abortion clinics-would result in clinics closing not only in Texas, but throughout the nation. It's a red alert for women's lives," said Eleanor Smeal, President of the Feminist Majority Foundation.

According to the amicus brief filed by American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, American Medical Association, Academy of Family Physicians, American Osteopathic Association, and American Academy of Pediatrics in January, 2016, "Far from safeguarding women's health, requirements imposed by H.B. 2 jeopardize women's health by impeding, if not outright preventing, access to safe, legal, evidence-based abortion care."

The Feminist Majority Foundation honored Amy Hagstrom Miller, CEO Whole Woman's Health, and a lead plaintiff in the lawsuit challenging H.B. 2 this past November. At the time, Hagstrom-Miller said, "These restrictions have nothing to do with protecting women and everything to do with closing down clinics and pushing abortion out of reach for millions of Americans. At Whole Woman's Health, we know this to be true because these restrictions have directly interfered with our ability to provide holistic, safe, and affordable abortion care to Texans."

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo recently signed a new bill into law allowing pregnant women to gain access to health care at any time, eliminating the previous requirement that they wait for open enrollment periods to purchase health insurance. New York is the first state in the country include pregnancy as a "qualifying event" for health insurance enrollment.

The law, signed by Governor Cuomo on December 22, adds pregnancy to the list of "qualifying events" established by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that permit individuals to enroll in health care plans through the New York State of Health marketplace outside of designated open enrollment times. Other qualifying events established by the ACA include marriage, divorce, loss of other coverage, and childbirth.

The new actions, which were released in a statement yesterday ahead of today's official announcement, include provisions to narrow the "gun show loophole" by requiring that all people "engaged in the business of dealing in firearms," including those at gun shows and online, obtain a license and conduct background checks on all purchases.

Currently, this requirement does not apply to those who "make occasional sales, exchanges, or purchases of firearms for the enhancement of a personal collection or for a hobby, or who sells all or part of his personal collection of firearms." But Obama's executive action, consistent with court rulings and ATF principles, clarifies that as few as two transactions, when combined with other evidence "can be sufficient to establish that a person is "engaged in the business.""

The Administration also proposed a new $500 million investment to increase access to mental health services, as well as actions to remove barriers keeping states from reporting mental health information in background checks.

The White House's plan additionally included the announcement that Attorney General Loretta Lynch will issue a memo directing all U.S. Attorney's Offices to renew efforts to coordinate with groups combating domestic violence and prevent domestic violence offenders from obtaining firearms. Research has found that women's risk of homicide in domestic violence situations increases by 500 percent with the presence of a gun, and that more than half of women murdered with guns are killed by intimate partners or family members.

Obama, who pushed for new gun laws three years ago to no avail, acknowledged that the scope of his power is limited without the support of Congress and that the Executive Actions represent his limited ability to stem the tide of gun violence. "Once Congress gets on board with common-sense gun safety measures we can reduce gun violence a whole lot more. But we also can't wait," the President said during today's speech. "There are actions within my legal authority that we can take to help reduce gun violence and save more lives -- actions that protect our rights and our kids."

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' decision comes less than a week after U.S. District Court Judge Clark Waddoups ruled that Herbert had the authority to deny the organization $275,000 in state contracts for sex education and sexually transmitted disease testing programs. Waddoups' ruling reversed a temporary restraining order from September that prevented Herbert from moving forward with his attempts to defund the healthcare provider.

In August, Herbert ordered that the state cut funding to Planned Parenthood in light of "ongoing concerns about the organization," after the release of several surreptitiously recorded and highly-edited videos by the anti-abortion group Center for Medical Progress (CMP). The videos, which falsely accused Planned Parenthood of "selling" fetal tissue, have been debunked repeatedly. Nevertheless, since their release, Planned Parenthood has been under a barrage of state- and federal attacks. To date, zero investigations have found evidence of wrongdoing.

A federal judge in California ruled on Monday to uphold a new law requiring crisis pregnancy centers to disclose that they are not licensed medical providers and to post notices providing information about California's public programs offering access to family planning, prenatal and abortion services.

U.S. District Judge Kimberly Mueller ruled that while the notices are compelled speech, the law did not violate pregnancy centers' free speech rights, as the signs required only "truthful, non-misleading information."

The Pacific Justice Institute brought the lawsuit on behalf of three crisis pregnancy centers after the law, AB 775, was signed by Governor Jerry Brown in October. The lawsuit sought an injunction to stop the law from going into effect on January 1.

The law represents an effort to curb the proliferation of anti-abortion, faith-based "Crisis Pregnancy Centers" (CPCs) and address the public health threat posed by their deceptive practices. CPCs frequently pose as comprehensive women's health clinics and advertise under "abortion" and "family planning" services, but do not offer abortion services, contraception, or referrals, and have been repeatedly shown to provide false or misleading information about reproductive health services.

The fight for clear and accurate information for pregnant women has long been a fight for women's rights activists. Last year, in response to a campaign by NARAL Pro-Choice America and efforts by the Feminist Majority Foundation to expose fake clinics, Google removed deceptive crisis pregnancy center (CPC) advertisements from search engine results when users seek information about abortion services. Most of the advertisements claimed that the CPCs provided abortions when they did not.

A grand jury decided on Monday not to indict anyone in connection with Sandra Bland's death in a Texas county jail last summer. The grand jury will reconvene next month to "take up remaining issues," including whether or not state trooper Brian Encinia - the officer who arrested Bland - should face criminal charges.

Bland is the 28-year-old African American woman who died in police custody in July. Authorities initially ruled it a suicide, but after pressure from the Bland family and the public -which spread news of the death using the hashtags #JusticeForSandy and #WhatHappenedToSandraBland - the Waller County, Texas District Attorney announced that the death would be investigated as a homicide.

"Right now the biggest problem I have is the entire process. It's the secrecy of it all," said Geneva Reed-Veal, Bland's mother, at a press conference after the grand jury's decision. "I simply can't have faith in a system that's not inclusive of my family. We're supposed to have an investigation to show us what's happening. We know what we've been listening to in the media ... but we don't have any real evidence."

In August, the Bland family filed a wrongful-death lawsuit naming Encinia as well as the two guards at Waller County Jail. According to the lawsuit, guards at the jail did not check on Bland frequently enough, and failed to act when Bland refused meals. Additionally, the lawsuit accuses Encina of using excessive force during the arrest, which "caused Sandra Bland to suffer injury and death."

In the footage of Bland's arrest, Encinia yells "I will light you up!" after threatening to drag Bland out of the vehicle. Bland can be heard telling him, "Don't touch me. I'm not under arrest." As the traffic stop escalates, she is also heard saying, "you slammed my head into the ground, do you even care about that? I can't even hear."

"What happened to Sandra Bland is outrageous," said Feminist Majority Foundation President Eleanor Smeal. "She should never have been ordered to leave her car in the first place and never have been arrested. This was a minor traffic violation that the officer escalated because he was challenged by a Black woman who knew her rights. How many more Black and Latino people have to die before we make fundamental change in police recruitment and training, and overhaul a justice system that is permitting police brutality with impunity?"

Bland's death is one in a series of violent incidents against African-American women, sparking a national movement to #SayHerName.

Last week, the NewsGuild of New York media union and The Nation magazine announced a six-year contract that will provide four months paid parental leave to The Nation's employees, regardless of their gender, and will also give employees a 25 percent pay increase over the life of the contract.

The Nation joins news organizations such as In These Times and The Guardian in unionizing, though agreements of this kind are unique in the media world. In a press release, Emily Douglas, a senior editor at the magazine, commented on the contract:

"The negotiating committee is very proud to have achieved a contract that not only protects our wages and healthcare, but also takes a major step forward in providing fully paid parental leave. Parental leave is a critical benefit for both women and men at our growing company, and will be offered on a gender-neutral basis. Even better, the leave can be taken all at once, or in stages, throughout the first year after birth or adoption of a child."

Parental leave made headlines many times this year when top tech companies, including Facebook, Netflix, Adobe and Microsoft, announced that they would begin providing employees with months of paid leave, and even childcare in some cases. Most U.S. newsrooms are not unionized, but collective bargaining has begun at many outlets, including Vice and Gawker.

Although the debate about whether or not this is a private- or public-sector issue remains heated, the importance of parental leave cannot be understated. A 2011 report found that taking time off after having a child results in a lowered risk of postpartum depression, higher rates of breastfeeding success and better skills development for children. Plus, family leave is cost-effective for employers: Researchers have consistently found that expansive family-leave policies either do not cost employers anything or result in actual savings, and employees are more likely to be loyal to companies that treat them well.

President Obama nailed this sentiment in a CNN interview last year. "Michelle and I have talked about this," he said. "When we knew that employers had our backs and were willing to give us flexibility to look after our family, that made us want to work harder for that employer."

In a lawsuit filed against the Chicago Board of Education late last year, the Department of Justice (DOJ) claimed the principal of Chicago's Scammon Elementary School fired, threatened to fire, and evaluated poorly the performances of pregnant teachers, with the Board consenting to as many as six of the resulting firings. The Chicago Public Schools (CPS) system had previously denied charges of specific targeting of pregnant teachers, insisting the reasoning behind the women's terminations was "legitimate, job-related and consistent with business necessity."

However, with Wednesday's ruling, the school board is required to not only provide monetary compensation to the women, but must also adhere to new discrimination-monitoring guidelines including submitting quarterly reports to the DOJ detailing any complaints of pregnancy discrimination, harassment and retaliation made by school employees. The board also agreed to review its non-discrimination policy and organize training sessions to educate school employees about pregnancy discrimination.

In response to the news, Feminist Majority Foundation President Eleanor Smeal said, "Pregnancy discrimination has been outlawed on the federal level for decades. It's long overdue that Chicago administrators adhere to the law and to basic human rights standards for women."

The National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum (NAPAWF) and the Maricopa County Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) are challenging a 2011 Arizona anti-abortion law which requires women's reproductive healthcare providers to racially profile Asian and African-American women seeking to terminate their pregnancies in the name of eliminating sex and race-selective abortion.

San Francisco's Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments Wednesday from both groups, who charged that the bill "targets and stigmatizes Black and Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) women and is based entirely on racially motivated stereotypes and generalizations about Black and AAPI women's reasons for deciding to terminate a pregnancy." According to the law, abortion providers must complete an affidavit stating they have no knowledge that the fetus is being aborted because of its sex or race or face civil action.

The appeal is in response to the district court's dismissal of the discrimination case in 2013, which ruled that the groups lacked standing to challenge the law. The American Civil Liberties Union, on behalf of NAPAWF and the local NAACP chapter, argued that "racial stigma and intentional discrimination resulting from the law causes sufficient harm to warrant standing."

During debate on the bill, legislators purported that because "African-American babies are now aborted at five times the rate of White babies to the point that nearly 50 percent of Black babies are aborted," Black women are getting abortions because of racial bias.

Despite statistics demonstrating no discrepancy in gender ratios of births by Asian-American women compared to those of other races statewide, anti-choice lawmakers argue Asian-American women are more inclined to abort fetuses based on gender.

According to Republican state Senator Rick Murphy, racial profiling is necessary to curtail a non-existent social problem. "We know that people from those countries and from those cultures are moving and immigrating in some reasonable numbers to the United States and Arizona," said Murphy. "And so with that in mind, why in good conscience would we want to wait until the problem does develop and bad things are happening and then react when we can be proactive and try to prevent the problem from happening in the first place?"